Chapter 163 - Living Wall

'Stop it, there is no need to hurry,' Tom thought to himself, dashing forward without the slightest care in the world. 

He would run only through the shortest corridors that he would find. Whenever a long one would appear, he would throw his spear, conjure another one in his hand, swap places with the thrown one and repeat the process. 

With how little energy he had to expand to recall his spears or swap places with them, this kind of movement was actually more energy-efficient than a normal run under the influence of a haste spell. 

'Why are you even in a hurry?' Tom continued to try to argue with himself, unable to understand the sudden duality of his thoughts and actions. 

Whether Cleo would be fed stones soon, or a bit later, wasn't likely to make any difference. This was something so obvious that Tom didn't have a shred of doubt about it. After all, her state didn't deteriorate over time, as much as Tom could judge from the short time he spent with her after the event. 

Yet, there was some kind of compelling force that pushed him to finish his task as quickly as possible. 

'Monsters,' Tom thought, noticing burly figures of orc-like beings. This time, however, they were accompanied by a bunch of wolf-like animals and a pack of massive spiders. 

'Annoying,' Tom gritted his teeth. Given how he would have to go back the same way he came, he couldn't leave the monsters behind his back. 

Even with how insanely powerful he was when compared to the monsters of this level, if all the mobs of the entire floor were to gather, even he would be hard-pressed to just pass by them. 

But what was even more dangerous would be the moment when the group would enter the level as a whole. 

'I would still somehow manage, but the rest of them?' he thought before shaking his head. 'I have to deal with them right now,' he thought, invoking one of his staple spells. 

'Swap!' 

Rather than appearing right at the end of the corridor, Tom swapped places with his spear when it was right above the diverse pack of monsters. 

'Recall,' Tom thought, opening his palm only to close it when he felt the spear returning to it. With another thought, he infused his spear with fire and wind attributes only to execute a long, cutting slash. 

With this specific mix of attributes, it appeared as if Tom's spear elongated, even though its real length remained all the same. 

It was the factor of wind mirroring the movements of the edge of Tom's weapon and the fire burning out the enriched load of oxygen in it. 

A single slash and the massive gathering of monsters turned into a hellscape filled with burning flesh, flowing blood, and massacred bodies. 

'That didn't work?' Tom thought with annoyance, noticing that only about half of the monsters succumbed to his attack. 

Considering the difference of levels between them, this result was truly a let-down. 

Tom had to swing his spear exactly three more times before the pocket of mobs was finally cleared out. By the time he was done, the corpses of the first batch of corpses had already started to dissolve. 

'That's strange,' Tom thought, lowering his eyes on the sight. 'Normally, it would take a bit longer,' he noticed, only to shake his head and resume his journey. 

'The dungeon is no longer working the way I thought it would,' Tom thought, a huge wrinkle appearing on his forehead. 

The unexpected changes to the dungeon's behavior were something he couldn't help but be wary of. 

This dungeon was the only place that he could easily access from both ends. There was even a chance that this was the only passage leading to the exact world Tom wished to visit and settle in. 

'Unless I visit and conquer another dungeon, I won't be able to find out the truth about them,' he thought, tightening the grip over his spear. 

Everything was changing way too fast for Tom's liking. 

From the situation in the sword and magic world on the other side, through the acceleration of the war between the Online Hub and his family, all the way to the ongoing changes to the dungeon's behavior...

'It's as if the entire universe was accelerating the pace of the events,' Tom thought, pulling out his real spear as he neared the entrance of the boss room. 

Right now, he had no time... or rather, no will to spend the time training on the local boss. He was here just for the stones. 

Tom stopped in his tracks right before the entrance of the room. Rather than entering hot-headed and slightly tired after his dash, he properly took a few breaths to calm himself down.

'Let's do this," Tom muttered to himself. It was a small encouragement, but he didn't need it at all for a boss of this level. 

Passing by the barrier, Tom was struck by surprise. Like in a small number of scenarios before, the boss... was actually nowhere to be seen. 

'Is it hiding or something?' he thought, looking around the roundish room, only to confirm his initial observation. 

The boss... wasn't here. 

Or so would Tom think if his eyes were the only sense he could use. 

The boss was nowhere to be seen, but he was more than capable of sensing a fluctuation of mana near the roof of the room. Yet, even when he looked up and strained his eyes, he couldn't see a thing!

'What the hell?' Tom thought, startled by the notion. 

If he could feel the monster's presence, then just how advanced its hiding mechanism had to be for his eyes to keep deceiving him?

"Well, whatever," Tom muttered, raising his face to where he could feel the strongest fluctuations. "I'm here just for the stones. If you want to fight, then I will fight you. If you want to just survive, I won't mind it either," he said before lowering his head and moving towards the wall furthest from the entrance. 

'That's strange,' he thought, approaching the wall. 

If the monster wanted to ambush him, the best time for it had already passed. After all, the boss had no means of knowing whether Tom wanted to just pass through the place or actively consume the stones on the spot.

With the wall and the shiny stones embedded in it right in front of him, Tom could hardly hold himself back. 

But it was the eerie silence of the room that made him so alerted. 

'Fuck it,' Tom suddenly thought, placing his hand on the wall and sending a small strand of his energy inside. 'Whatever the local monster is, it's not like it can seriously harm me,' he thought, focusing his attention on the fluctuations on the roof rather than the wall ahead of him. 

'Wait, what?' Tom suddenly tensed up, realizing that something was missing. 

The stones that should already trickle down to the ground... were still embedded in the wall, as if the dungeon suddenly decided that his mining trick would no longer work!

"What the..." Tom muttered when the wall suddenly exploded. 

With his attention drawn to the fluctuations in the middle of the roof, he failed to realize that instead of a single strand of mana... Tom continued to supply the fake wall with more and more energy. 

And right now, all of this stored energy exploded right into his face!

In a situation where the attack didn't target him specifically but simply shoot out in every possible direction, Tom's autoguard couldn't really help much. 

The one thing it achieved was forcing the young man to actually jump away, right in the nick of time to avoid the main brunt of the attack. 

"This fucker..." Tom muttered, anger welling up in his soul. 

He never expected a monster to get one better over him. Maybe with the exception of the last boss of the dungeon, the one monster that Tom actually continued to struggle with. 

But for a boss of a measly forty-second floor?

Whether it was the only way in which this boss could attack or just a trap prepared to weaken its opponent, it didn't matter. 

Now that the hostilities had begun, Tom would be the one to end them.

'It hurts,' he thought, standing up to a normal position and recalling the farthest spear that he still could recall. 

This time, he didn't add two attributes to it. While greatly increasing the attack's versatility, it was inevitably weaker than simply infusing it with a single attribute. 

"Burn away," he muttered, infusing all of the pain of his bruises into his intent, before blasting the spear up, right towards the main source of mana fluctuations!

Pop!

Rather than an explosion, his spear clearly broke through some sort of shell... But it didn't explode. Not a single hint of fire appeared.

The entirety of the boss' room seemed to pulse.

And in the next moment, Tom's spear dissolved, only to disappear completely a moment later. 

The pulse traveled through the roof and the walls of the room again. 

And Tom could feel it was hungry for more.